Andy Warhol

I think that at this stage it is a good idea to look back at the films by Andy Warhol, as they have been very influential to the work I have done to date.  What I find so interesting about his work is the way he gains an honest reaction/look out of his subjects, through simply observing them over a period of time.

The two stills below are taken from the his film 'sleep' in which a man is filmed sleeping for over 5 hours.  Here, Warhol has been able to document someone who is giving a completely honest reaction, because they are asleep and unaware of the camera.

The image below is a still taken from his film 'Eat', where a man is filmed eating for a period of 45 minutes.  It is interesting that these films are shot over extended periods of time, because in doing so Warhol is able to make his subject become used to the camera, which as a result allows for more honest reactions.

The stills below are taken from the film 'Blow Job', which lasts for 35 minutes, and shows a man receiving oral sex.  I feel that out of all Warhol's films, this one works the best, simply due to the situation his subject is in.  The man is filmed at a very intimate time, and the way he reacts is genuine.

It is this genuine reaction from people that I am most interested in, the fact that they cannot escape the camera, and eventually show their true selves.  I think that with the work of Warhol, the fact that he has placed his subjects in live situations works well to get this what he wants, and works much better than my idea of projecting images in front of people.  I like the ambiguity to some of his films also, and especially in 'Blow Job', without the given context that it is a man receiving oral sex, there could be a number of things that are making the man react how he does.